why am i afraid? (poem)

why am i scared?
i'm scared because i'm ALIVE

the trick about fear
is not to not do things
because we're afraid
but to do those things
specifically because
we ARE afraid

and if we ever stop
being scared
then we're dead
and if we are still
moving around
it's only because
we don't know it yet
and have become
nothing more than
animated bodies
walking around blind
in a permanent vegetative state
of mere existence
with our souls
outlined in chalk

but living according to
the dictates of that fear
allowing it control
over our souls
over our lives
turns us into pawns
and we lose
who we are
having become
instead of a person
an individual
merely an extension
of the beast

(Note: This originated in answer to the same question in the title posed as the caption to one of the pictures on the MySpace page of Sasha Grey.)